Over a month later, the
international basketball fandom and the NBA community still have Black Mamba on
their collective minds. The late retired basketball superstar Kobe Bryant
certainly left a gigantic mark on his former team the LA Lakers, the league, and
the sport as a whole. This footprint has thus been encapsulated in the recent
2020 NBA All-Stars weekend. A particular player award in that spectacle now
bears his name, and the All-Star Game itself followed a special format that
also paid tribute to Bryant via his jersey number. It comes across as only the
beginning of the Kobe Bryant legacy, but it is also a very good start.
CBS Sports reports that on the 2020 NBA All-Star Game played this Sunday,
February 16 between the teams led by LeBron James (Lakers) and Giannis
Antetokounmpo (Bucks), it was Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers who would be
honored by being the first All-Star competitor to be given the new most
valuable player award. That is because the MVP trophy now carries the name of the
Black Mamba (and the corporate sponsor), in the form of the Kia NBA All-Star
Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award.
Leonard certainly deserves the accolade
for his spirited play on behalf of Team LeBron, to ace their 157-point win over
Team Giannis’ 155, with Kawhi giving 30 points and leading all scorers. The
closeness of the final score was due to the special rule, with the fourth
quarter being played in The Basketball Tournament’s “Elam Ending” where the
game clock is shut off at the last four minutes (shot clock still active) and
the teams play to terminate the game by reaching a target score, in this case
24 after Bryant’s second Lakers number. In the 12-vote MVP selection, Leonard
got seven to LeBron’s 3, with Anthony Davis and Chris Paul each getting a vote.
The renaming of the All-Star MVP
Award in memory of Kobe Bryant was first revealed Saturday, February 15 by NBA
commissioner Adam Silver. Interestingly, Black Mamba tied in winning the
All-Star MVP with Bob Pettit. Other highlights of All-Star Weekend include the
Celebrity Game between Team Stephen A. Smith and Team Michael Wilbon, both
sports program hosts, featuring players like rappers Common and Chance the
Rapper. Team Wilbon won. For the Rising Stars Challenge (USA vs. World) the
American-born players beat the international ones 151-131. Bam Adebayo of the
Miami Heat won the Skills Challenge, Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings the
Three-Point Contest, and the Heats’ Derek Jones Jr. aced the Slam Dunk Contest.
0 comments:
Post a Comment